Northeast Passage in the context of "Northwest Passage"

Henry Hudson (c. 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States.

In 1607 and 1608, Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a rumoured Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle. In 1609, he landed in North America on behalf of the Dutch East India Company and explored the region around the modern New York metropolitan area. Looking for a Northwest Passage to Asia on his ship Halve Maen ("Half Moon"), he sailed up the Hudson River, which was later named after him, and thereby laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region. His contributions to the exploration of the New World were significant and lasting. His voyages helped to establish European contact with the native peoples of North America and contributed to the development of trade and commerce.

Hopen is an island in the southeastern part of the Svalbard archipelago (Norway). Hopen was discovered in 1596 by Jan Cornelisz Rijp during the third expedition by Willem Barentsz, trying to find the Northeast Passage.Later, in 1613, its name was given by Thomas Marmaduke of Hull, who named it after his former command, the Hopewell.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute since 1947 operates a staffed weather station on the island with a staff of four persons. For the welfare of the crew, there are three cabins available on the island for their use.

Petrus Plancius (Dutch: [ˈpeːtrʏs ˈplɑŋkijʏs]; born Pieter Platevoet [ˈpitər ˈplaːtəvut]; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. Born in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders, he studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.

Plancius fled from Brussels to Amsterdam to avoid religious persecution by the Inquisition after the city fell into Spanish hands in 1585. In Amsterdam he became interested in navigation and cartography and, having access to nautical charts recently brought from Portugal, he was soon recognized as an expert on safe maritime routes to India and the nearby "spice islands". This enabled colonies and port trade in both, including what would become the Dutch East Indies, named after the Dutch East India Company set up in 1602. He saw strong potential in the little-mapped Arctic Sea and strongly believed in the idea of a Northeast Passage until the failure of Willem Barentsz's third voyage in 1597 seemed to preclude its viability.

The Great Northern Expedition (Russian: Великая Северная экспедиция) or Second Kamchatka Expedition (Russian: Вторая Камчатская экспедиция) was a major Russian Arctic expedition between roughly 1733 and 1743, which mapped most of the Arctic coast of Siberia and much of the Arctic coast of North America, greatly reducing "white areas" on maps. It was conceived by Russian emperor Peter the Great, and took place under empresses Anna and Elizabeth. Peter hoped for the 18th-century Russian Navy to map a Northern Sea Route from Europe to the Pacific. The endeavour was sponsored by the Admiralty College in Saint Petersburg. The main organiser and leader of the expedition was Vitus Bering, who had been commissioned by Peter to lead the earlier First Kamchatka Expedition (1725 to 1731). With over 3,000 people directly or indirectly involved, it was one of the largest expeditions in history.

The expedition's primary objective was reaching the eastern reaches of Siberia, and from there the western shores of North America. The expedition included the European discovery of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, the Commander Islands, and Bering Island—as well as a detailed cartographic assessment of the northern and north-eastern coast of Russia and the Kuril Islands. Any large landmass in the North Pacific, as well as any economically viable Northeast Passage sought since the 16th century, were both proven not to exist. Other findings included ethnographic, historic, and scientific research into Siberia and Kamchatka. Its cost was an estimated 1.5 million rubles, financed entirely by the Russian state, equal to roughly one-sixth of state income in 1724.

Joseph Billings (c.1758 – 1806) was an English navigator, hydrographer and explorer who spent the most of his career in Russian service. From 1790 to 1794 he commanded a marine expedition that searched for a Northeast Passage and explored the coasts of Alaska and Siberia. Between 1797 and 1798 he conducted a hydrographic survey of the Black Sea.

Jan Cornelisz Rijp (c. 1570–c. 1613) was a Dutch mariner best known for his involvement with Willem Barentsz in finding a route to the East, avoiding the Spanish and the Portuguese fleets in the South.

In May 1596, Rijp was named captain of the second of two ships commissioned to Barents by Dutch merchants to discover the fabled Northeast Passage to the East Indies. Jacob van Heemskerck captained the first ship, and Barents served as its pilot. After discovering Spitsbergen, the ships encountered pack ice blocking the way. Barents decided to turn east and round the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya, as he had successfully managed once before. When Barents urged Rijp to follow, he refused. Rijp insisted that the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya was far too dangerous and returned to the Netherlands.

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (Russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, romanized: Severnyy morskoy put, shortened to Севморпуть, Sevmorput) is a shipping route about 5,600 kilometres (3,500 mi) long. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route between the western part of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Administratively, the Northern Sea Route begins at the boundary between the Barents and Kara Seas (the Kara Strait) and ends in the Bering Strait (Cape Dezhnev). The NSR straddles the seas of the Arctic Ocean (Kara, Laptev, East Siberian and Chukchi Seas).